Penn State coach Joe Paterno admitted recently that university President Graham Spanier was disappointed in him. But it had nothing to do with the Nittany Lions’ ghastly 3-9 record last season.
“He called me up and said: `You have an e-mail address and a lot of people are upset because you’re not answering it,'” Paterno recalled. “I said: `I have an e-mail address? I don’t pay attention to it.'”
Paterno has taken a similar stance with his critics. When told that prominent columnists have called for him to retire, the 77-year-old coach replied: “Prominent in whose eyes? Honest to God, I never read one of them. . . . And if I had, it wouldn’t make any difference to me.”
Good for him. Paterno should continue to read defenses, not sports columnists. The man has earned the right to say exactly when he has had enough in Happy Valley.
Sure, he has fired up his critics by producing one winning season in the last four.
But give Paterno a break. If his 339-109-3 record over 38 seasons isn’t enough, consider his 14-6 mark in New Year’s Day Bowl games and his 69 first-team All-Americans. Or you can look at his superlative graduation rates and lifetime donations to the university of $4 million.
Yes, Penn State’s talent level has taken a hit since Big Ten schools have raided former recruiting strongholds Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But even if the coach loses another nine games this year, he has earned the right to wave goodbye whenever he wants.
